Isn't DTH the vendor that got caught using a Tea Chat members matcha pics on their own products? They could just as easily post a picture of an organic certification taken from another product. I have never trusted this vendor and never will.

I would never buy matcha from China, regardless of where they claim it came from or what certification it is claimed to have. There is plenty of decent matcha in the lower price ranges that can be purchased direct from Japan in larger qualtities for some additional savings. With some vendors it can be shipped via airmail instead of EMS for less than $10. Yuuki-cha products are all organic and several of their matchas can be purchased in 100 gram bags for a significant savings. I would recommend this approach as there is far less chance of getting ripped off or receiving an inferior product when purchased from a reputable and knowlegable Japanese vendor. O-Cha's Kiri no Mori is not as cheap as the DTH offering, but is an excellent, lower-priced matcha. For bulk I think it's hard to beat Yukki-cha's offering in the 100 gram bags.

OK, thanks. Hmmmm. Casts a bit of doubt about ordering. There's a mention of Gordon. Is this a similar operation as Yunnansourcing and Scott Wilson, eg. an American guy located in China and doing tea business ?

He rectified the image "borrowing" promptly. I think an over zealous member of his staff just went too far. It can happen.

Anyway, I want emphasize that I would have no qualms ordering from this vendor, just not Japanese tea when there are legit alternatives. I hope he focuses on his strengths which are Chinese tea and teaware.

Unless it's otherwise stated (I didn't read the entire listing), I guess we can't assume it's Japanese matcha. I've noticed some Japanese web stores don't specify where every product is produced either. So I don't know if some relatively less expensive matcha from Japan is made in Japan or China. One thing for sure is Chinese matcha should be much much less expensive than Japanese matcha.

I wasn't really sure what their E commerce was like. I looked it up and figured they had something, but didn't realize that it was so disorganized. I had their tea in Japan.

entropyembrace wrote:it´s a requirement for me that a vendor accepts paypal and has an up to date e-commerce site...so I´ll stick with O-cha, Zencha and Maiko

I prefer companies that have one of the other. If you don't have an E commerce site, then I'd like to see a paypal option. Paying on a E commerce site with a credit card isn't a big deal for me and I like better tea for less money.

Most of our tea is supplied to us from the original grower, we are a registered Japanese corporation, we buy and pay our vendors in Japanese yen, pay Japanese taxes, package and ship it from Japan, and the last time I checked half the team over here are Japanese. But we don't "count" huh? I'm just sayin...

There are several vendors I have used in Japan that have Western owners but still provide excellent products, both tea and teaware. They usually provide better service than you would expect to get from a Western vendor but not always as good as with a Japanese-owned vendor. Overall I've found them to be acceptable to deal with and have found their products to be among the best available from any vendor operating out of Japan, regardless of where the owner is from. I have found them to be very superior to the Western businesses selling from over here.

I have used O-Cha, 2000 Cranes, and Unique Japan, all of whom have Western owners, and have been extremely happy with their products. I stopped using O-Cha not because of anything being wrong with the tea (exception = 2009 YM), but because I was getting tired of recurring account problems and unanswered e-mails that were related to the account troubles. How problems like these are addressed is the only real difference I've seen between Western and Japanese owners operating out of Japan. As for O-Cha's products, the quality overall far exceeds what I've found from any Japanese tea vendor with the exception of Hojo and possibly Yuuki-cha (not sure if Yuuki-cha has a Japanese or Western owner). I still frequently recommend O-Cha's teas even though I stopped using them as my own vendor.

Kevin, thanks for contacting me after you read this and letting me know about your new shopping cart system. I've opened a new account and ordered a couple of cans of Kiri no Mori. I've recommended it enough on this forum that I think I should try it again myself, as it has been a while.

Based on my first order from the new account, no problems! Everything worked great. The shopping cart was empty after I completed the order, where before the same items remained in the cart making it impossible not to order those same items the next time.